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The American Nursery and Landscape Association (ANLA) submitted testimony in mid-April for a hearing held by the House subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security and International Law. Bob Dolibois, ANLA executive vice president, urged Congress to take prompt action.

“The failure of Congress to promote viable guest worker programs, in this case extending the policy of exempting returning H-2B guest workers from the statutory cap as they have in the past two Congresses, leaves employers in a precarious situation in the midst of an acute seasonal labor crisis, and leaves returning employees depending on that income to support their families on the outside looking in,” Dolibois said.

ANLA also filed extensive technical comments on a pair of proposals by the Bush administration to overhaul the existing H-2A agricultural guest worker program. The comments may be viewed at anla.org under What’s New. ANLA commented on proposals that will improve the program, and urged withdrawal or substantial modification of a number of proposed changes that would make the already bureaucratic program even worse.

“ANLA made clear that H-2A reform alone, even if completely successful, cannot solve the labor crisis now plaguing agriculture and the nursery industry,” said Craig Regelbrugge, ANLA vice president for government relations and research. “We need legislative reform, and Congress must act.”